Red
May 29, 2009 Posted by Eva at 2:28 pm
Norway’s Datarock have returned with the follow up to the geek-chic party album of 2005, Datarock Datarock. Their debut mixed Happy Mondays punk-funk with warped Devo humour, and was well received locally with Computer Camp Love landing #12 on Triple J’s Hottest 100.
Red has lost none of Fredrik Saroea and musical partner Ketil Mosnes’ aptitude for so-classic-you-must-haveheard- it-before hooks, but this follow-up is an altogether more concept-driven beast. For example, lead single Give it Up was actually an idea for a music video before it became a song, paraphrasing Beat It, Bad, West Side Story, and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film Romeo & Juliet.
As an album, Red is a thoroughly unashamed love-letter to the influences that made Datarock what they are today. DEVO, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Talking Heads, Haruki Murakami, Don Delilo’s White Noise, Scott Walker, the works of John Hughes and Peter Greenaway, and even Molly Ringwald (in the song Molly) are all referenced. Pop cultural fluff that is meaningful because invoking them now as adults is a sharp reminder from a more innocent time that we should ALWAYS be having more fun than we are right now.
But Red is not all nostalgic longing. Datarock are just as interested in this day and age, expressed through their love-hate relationship with technology and communication. On The Pretender, Fredrik announces he is, “In love with my avatar!”, before reeling off a list of the multiple duplicitous identities available to him online – North Korean? South American? Presbyterian? The Blog, meanwhile, is an attempt by these technology-fetishists to romanticise the early utopian promise of the Internet, before it became something that people just took for granted and got annoyed by. It’s total retrofuturism.
Red isn’t just a socio-political tract about the fluid nature of identity in the Internet age. It’s also a eulogy for nostalgia. It’s an abstract notion in an era of instant data retrieval. And it’s the party album of 2009!
Datarock will be touring nationally in June.
Album Red is out now on etcetc. Buy it from iTunes or JB Hi-fi.
Tracklisting:
1. The Blog
2. Give It Up
3. True Stories
4. Dance!
5. Molly
6. Do It Your Way
7. In The Red
8. Fear Of Death
9. Amarillion
10. The Pretender
11. Back In The Seventies
12. Not Me
13. New Days Dawn
Kitsuné Maison Compilation 7
May 28, 2009 Posted by Eva at 1:24 pm
The seventh Kitsuné Maison Compilation is here: the lucky one!
A constantly expanding network of new discoveries, about to blow-up talents, hopes, loves, happiness and hedonism, the Maison is not so much an exclusive world, but a welcoming space open to all winds.
Kitsune Maison Compilation 7 brings together new tracks and exclusive remixes including La Roux’s In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix), Phoenix’s Lisztomania (Classixx Version), Two Door Cinema Club’s Something Good Can Work, The Golden Filter’s Favourite Things, autoKratz’ Always More (Yuksek Remix), and Men’s Make It Reverse. Plus local Australian talent in the form of Beni’s Fringe Element.
As the Kitsuné sieve keeps on searching for gold and finding it, we hope that these discoveries put you in as good a mood as they did us. Here’s the seventh Kitsune Maison: the lucky one!
Kitsuné Maison Compilation 7 is out now on etcetc. To buy it, click here.
Track Listing
1. Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work
2. We Have Band - Time After Time (feat. Yulia)
3. Phoenix - Lisztomania (Classixx Version)
4. Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth
5. The Golden Filter - Favourite Things
6. La Roux - In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix)
7. Beni - Fringe Element (Short Like Me Edit)
8. autoKratz – Always More (Yuksek Remix)
9. 80kidz – Miss Mars
10. James Yuill – This Sweet Love (Prins Thomas Sneaky Edit)
11. MEN - Make It Reverse
12. Chew Lips – Solo
13. Chateau Marmont – Beagle
14. Heartsrevolution – 薔薇と彼女の王子
15. Delphic - Counterpoint (Delphic’s En Route Mix)
16. — Encore—
17. Maybb – Touring in NY (Short Tour Edit)
18. Renaissance Man – Rythym
19. Tanlines - Bejan
Lost Valentinos – Razzmatazz – Barcelona
May 22, 2009 Posted by admin at 8:00 pm
Lost Valentinos @ Yo Yo – Notting Hill Arts Club – London
May 21, 2009 Posted by admin at 8:00 pm
Hardships! Spectrum Album of the Week…
May 20, 2009 Posted by Eva at 2:25 pm
Not only does she possess the highest cheekbones in pop – Jenny Wilson has also been awarded one of Australia’s highest musical accolades: Hardships! was Bernard Zuel’s Album of the Week in SMH’s Spectrum.
“This is an unconventionally shaped record, peppered with moments that cast shadows of disturbance you can never completely make out but always prodding you with its attractive qualities…this is smart and very attractive pop music…”
Read the rest of the wonderful review here.
Lost Valentinos – Ruby Lounge – Manchester
May 16, 2009 Posted by admin at 8:00 pm
Lost Valentinos – Les Nuits Botanique – Brussels
May 15, 2009 Posted by admin at 8:00 pm
Lost Valentinos @ Clash Magazine Launch Party – Hoxton Square Bar & Grill – London
May 13, 2009 Posted by admin at 8:00 pm
Ted & Francis EP
May 12, 2009 Posted by Eva at 12:01 pm
What happens when two suburban Australian boys meet at a young age and bond over a shared love for all things polar as well as New Order bass-lines? They decide they must add ‘&’ into the equation to form a union between their alias names, of course.
Ted & Francis (”T&F” as they are known for short) present a world where introspective pop never seemed so exciting. With this EP release, plans for ‘mega-rad’ tours, plus an album in the works, the sweet cuddly lure of Ted & Francis will win over the most cynical of us all.
The epitome of arctic cool with a tropical pop bent, they are one band not to be missed especially for lovers of partnerships in any type/form/shape or height. In recent months the boys have played alongside Lost Valentinos in-between having their remixes of artists like Empire of the Sun featured on blogs including Bigstereo and Ohh! Crapp. Their new EP features the beautiful Erlend as well as the world-renowned I Wish I Was A Polar Bear, last heard on 2008’s Kitsuné Maison 6 compilation.
The Ted & Francis EP is released digitally on 15 May through etcetc.
Tracklisting:
- Erlend
- Think About Enough
- Livings Lost
- I Wish I Was a Polar Bear
Fever Ray: coming to America…
May 11, 2009 Posted by Eva at 12:27 pm
“Andersson holds her audience utterly spellbound” – Drowned In Sound
“…pulls you inexorably into the darkness of her world” - The Guardian
After a string of acclaimed live shows around Europe, Fever Ray is heading over to the US and Canada in September/October. Venues will include NYC’s iconic Webster Hall, where Andersson’s other project, The Knife, played two sold out dates for their US debut.
Karin will be supported by a 4 piece band, with visuals masterminded by Swedish multimedia artist Andreas Nilsson who designed The Knife’s live show and directed the creepy video for If I Had a Heart.
USA and Canada Tour Dates:
Sept 28 – Webster Hall, NYC, NY
Sept 29 – Webster Hall, NYC, NY
Oct 1 – Metropolis, Montreal
Oct 2 – Kool Haus, Toronto
Oct 3 – Metro, Chicago
Oct 5 – Grand Ballroom, San Francisco
Oct 7 – Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles
keep looking »